aidsmap: New strategy aims to end AIDS in children by 2020
“A new strategy to end pediatric AIDS launched at the 21st International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2016) in Durban, South Africa on Tuesday calls for antiretroviral treatment services to reach 1.6 million children and 1.2 million adolescents by 2018. The Super-Fast Track strategy is intended to close the gap between adult and pediatric treatment access, says UNAIDS, and will pull together the actions of numerous agencies…” (Alcorn, 7/19).

International Business Times: Maternal antiretroviral therapy may eliminate HIV transmission from mother to infant via breast milk
“A study has revealed that HIV-infected mothers who have a strong immune system can benefit from a three-drug antiretroviral regimen during the breastfeeding period. Researchers found evidence that this therapy may eliminate HIV transmission to infants via breast milk. The findings showed that daily infant nevirapine and three-drug antiretroviral therapy were effective and safe at preventing HIV transmission from mother to child during breastfeeding…” (Roy, 7/20).

U.N. News Centre: New drive for pediatric HIV treatment launched at global AIDS conference
“…The new global push comes at a time when children, aged 0 to 14 years, accounting for five percent of people living with HIV in 2015, represent 10 percent of all AIDS-related deaths. Half of all children who acquire HIV perinatally die by their second birthday unless they receive antiretroviral therapy, with peak mortality occurring at six to eight weeks of life. Discussions at the conference also underlined the need to increase the political commitment for pediatric HIV treatment, scaling-up of point-of-care diagnostic tools for children, intensifying testing efforts for older children, strengthening of service delivery and patient monitoring for mothers and their infants, and expanding the array of child-appropriate antiretroviral medicines…” (7/20).

VOA News: World Sees Hope in Ending Mother-to-Child HIV Transmissions
“…Governments, scientists, and U.S. health agencies are working hard to end mother-to-child transmission of HIV/AIDS around the world. ‘Mother-to-child transmission is one of the greatest success stories in HIV research, but there are still 150,000 children in low- and middle-income countries who become infected with HIV every year,’ said Rachel Sturke, a senior scientist at Fogarty International, a division of the National Institutes of Health…” (Pearson, 7/20).